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Customer surveys are a joke when they are only meant to tick off boxes. Here's an example of what I mean by this. I received a call recently from a national hardware and department-store chain asking me to complete a survey on the recent repair of my air conditioner. There were two problems with this request. First, we had a service call (actually, it was three calls) on a dehumidifier and not an air conditioner and second, there was no human on the other end.

But I figured a call was a call, right? So I began to answer the questions. That was until it dawned upon me that if I answered the questions as asked, the repairman would be the one who would suffer. He would receive a dreadfully low score because of my unhappiness, which by the way wasn't his fault. I gave him all average scores on questions regarding his appearance, politeness, and general demeanor. But here's the thing. None of this matters because we still do not have a working dehumidifier in our basement and the company has absolutely no information that could help them improve their service.

You would think if the company were so concerned about their levels customer satisfaction, they would have a real person doing the calling, instead of an automated system. Then perhaps I could have provided this person with useful information.

If you downright serious about your service levels, then I suggest you do the following:

Empower your customer service people to make decisions. The company in question lost a valuable customer and perhaps many more through people who will hear about my experience. Had they rectified the situation quickly, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. We are talking about a $199 piece of warrentied equipment that could have easily been replaced.

Stop hiding behind your website. I would have personally contacted the CEO if I was able to locate his e-mail address on the website. I think it's intentionally hidden, which is a big mistake. Wouldn't you rather know about a problem so that you could fix it before it goes public?

Ask survey questions that matter. The only question that matters is how satisfied is your customer with the repair or the service they received. The company never asked me this question. They are obviously more concerned with the appearance of reps when in fact they should be more concerned with how the customer is actually feeling.

If you really don't want to know, don't ask. I honestly forgot how ticked off I was until I received the call this evening from an automated attendant. I now know why they say you should let sleeping dogs lie.

In this day and age, customers truly do have choices. You may think you are the only game in town, but all one has to do is go online and they can find dozens of providers in dozens of other towns. Now is the time to get serious about high levels of service. As for me, I'm heading to my local hardware store, where at least there will be a human there who is willing to speak directly with customers.